How and when to dump a bad mutual fund

If teens would talk, here’s what they would say

“We’re sooo bored...with the shopping mall.” The new objects of their affections? Expensive electronics that cost parents abut $8.4 billion, according to data on back-to-school [urchases.

Americans won’t care if sanctions mean less Russian vodka

In 2013, the amount of vodka imported from Russia into the U.S. dropped 70% from the prior year, data show. Not a single one of the top 10-selling brands in the U.S. was Russian. “After prohibition, our experience with vodka has been mostly American,” one expert tells MarketWatch.

The stock market is worse than it was in 2000

In 2015, it won’t matter if hackers steal your password

The password could be dead as soon as next year. Get ready for eye scans, voice recognition and heartbeat activity monitors. A group that includes giants like Google, MasterCard and PayPal plans to release modern authentication standards by the end of the year.

ELSEWHERE ON MARKETWATCH:

Gas is weirdly cheap right now

Gasoline prices nationwide are bumping along at $3.48 a gallon, a four-year low, and at odds with the fact that July and August are the busiest driving months of the year.

10 stocks suffering the biggest cuts in earnings estimates

U.S. Postal Service posts $1.96 billion loss

The USPS doesn’t have it easy: Under law, it must pay own way. It doesn’t receive an annual taxpayer subsidy, and is required to prefund more than $5.5 billion annually for health benefits for future retirees.

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